Order of
AssassinsAssassins or simply
AssassinsAssassins (Arabic:
ٱلْحَشَاشِين‎ al-Ḥashāshīn, Persian:
حشاشین‬‎ Hashâshīn) is the common name used to refer to an
IslamicIslamic sect formally known as the
NizariNizari Ismailis. Based on texts
from Alamut, their grand master
Hassan-i SabbahHassan-i Sabbah tended to call his
disciples Asāsīyūn (أساسيون, meaning "people who are
faithful to the foundation [of the faith]"), but some foreign
travelers misunderstanded the derivation from the term hashish.
Often described as a secret order led by a mysterious "Old Man of the
Mountain", the
NizariNizari Ismailis formed in the late 11th century
after a split within
IsmailismIsmailism – a branch of Shia Islam.
The Nizaris posed a strategic threat to
SunniSunni Seljuq authority by
capturing and inhabiting several mountain fortresses throughout Persia
and later Syria, under the leadership of Hassan-i Sabbah. Asymmetric
warfare, psychological warfare, and surgical strikes were often an
employed tactic of the assassins, drawing their opponents into
submission rather than risk killing them.[1]
While "Assassins" typically refers to the entire sect, only a group of
acolytes known as the fida'i actually engaged in conflict. Lacking
their own army, the
NizariNizari relied on these warriors to carry out
espionage and assassinations of key enemy figures, and over the course
of 300 years successfully killed two caliphs, and many viziers,
sultans, and Crusader leaders.[2]
Under leadership of
ImamImam Rukn-ud-Din Khurshah, the
NizariNizari state
declined internally, and was eventually destroyed as the Imam
surrendered the castles to the invading Mongols. Sources on the
history and thought of the Ismailis in this period are therefore
lacking and the majority extant are written by their detractors. Long
after their near-eradication, mentions of
AssassinsAssassins were preserved
within European sources – such as the writings of
Marco PoloMarco Polo –
where they are depicted as trained killers, responsible for the
systematic elimination of opposing figures. The word "assassin" has
been used ever since to describe a hired or professional killer,
leading to the related term "assassination", which denotes any action
involving murder of a high-profile target for political reasons.
The
NizariNizari were acknowledged and feared by the Crusaders. The stories
of the
AssassinsAssassins were further embellished by Marco Polo. European
orientalist historians in the 19th century – such as Joseph von
Hammer-Purgstall – also referred to the
NizariNizari in their works and
tended to write about the
NizariNizari based on accounts by medieval Sunni
Arab and Persian authors.

The origins of the
AssassinsAssassins can be traced back to just before the
First Crusade, around 1094 in Alamut, north of modern Iran, during a
crisis of succession to the
FatimidFatimid caliphate.[3] There has been great
difficulty finding out much information about the origins of the
AssassinsAssassins because most early sources are written by enemies of the
order, are based on legends, or both.[citation needed] Most sources
dealing with the order's inner workings were destroyed with the
capture of Alamut, the Assassins' headquarters, by the
MongolsMongols in
1256. However, it is possible to trace the beginnings of the cult back
to its first Grandmaster,
Hassan-i SabbahHassan-i Sabbah (1050s–1124).
A passionate devotee of Isma'ili beliefs,
Hassan-i SabbahHassan-i Sabbah was
well-liked throughout Cairo,
SyriaSyria and most of the
Middle EastMiddle East by
other Isma'ili, which led to a number of people becoming his
followers. Using his fame and popularity, Sabbah founded the Order of
the Assassins. While his motives for founding this order are
ultimately unknown, it was said to be all for his own political and
personal gain and to also exact vengeance on his enemies. Because of
the unrest in the Holy Land caused by the Crusades, Hassan-i Sabbah
found himself not only fighting for power with other Muslims, but also
with the invading Christian forces.[4]
After creating the Order, Sabbah searched for a location that would be
fit for a sturdy headquarters and decided on the fortress at
AlamutAlamut in
what is now northwestern Iran. It is still disputed whether Sabbah
built the fortress himself or if it was already built at the time of
his arrival. In either case, Sabbah adapted the fortress to suit his
needs not only for defense from hostile forces, but also for
indoctrination of his followers. After laying claim to the fortress at
Alamut, Sabbah began expanding his influence outwards to nearby towns
and districts, using his agents to gain political favour and to
intimidate the local populations.
Spending most of his days at
AlamutAlamut producing religious works and
developing doctrines for his Order, Sabbah would never leave his
fortress again in his lifetime. He had established a secret society of
deadly assassins, which was built on a hierarchical structure. Below
Sabbah, the Grand Headmaster of the Order, were those known as
"Greater Propagandists", followed by the normal "Propagandists", the
Rafiqs ("Companions"), and the Lasiqs ("Adherents"). It was the Lasiqs
who were trained to become some of the most feared assassins, or as
they were called, "Fida'i" (self-sacrificing agent).[5]
However, it is unknown how Hassan-i-Sabbah was able to get his
"Fida'in" to perform with such fervent loyalty. One theory, possibly
the best known but also the most criticized, comes from the reports of
Marco PoloMarco Polo during his travels to the Orient. He recounts a story he
heard, of the "Old Man of the Mountain" (Sabbah) who would drug his
young followers with hashish, lead them to a "paradise", and then
claim that only he had the means to allow for their return. Perceiving
that Sabbah was either a prophet or magician, his disciples, believing
that only he could return them to "paradise", were fully committed to
his cause and willing to carry out his every request.[6] However, this
story is disputed[by whom?] due to the fact that Sabbah died in 1124
and Sinan, who is frequently known as the "Old Man of the Mountain",
died in 1192, whereas
Marco PoloMarco Polo was not born until around 1254.[7][8]
With his new weapons, Sabbah began to order assassinations, ranging
from politicians to great generals.
AssassinsAssassins would rarely attack
ordinary citizens though, and tended not to be hostile towards them.
Although the "Fida'yin" were the lowest rank in Sabbah's order and
were only used as expendable pawns to do the Grandmaster's bidding,
much time and many resources were put into training them. The
AssassinsAssassins were generally young in age, giving them the physical
strength and stamina which would be required to carry out these
murders. However, physical prowess was not the only trait that was
required to be a "Fida'i". To get to their targets, the
AssassinsAssassins had
to be patient, cold, and calculating. They were generally intelligent
and well-read because they were required to possess not only knowledge
about their enemy, but his or her culture and their native language.
They were trained by their masters to disguise themselves and sneak
into enemy territory to perform the assassinations, instead of simply
attacking their target outright.[5]
Etymology[edit]

MasyafMasyaf Castle, one of the most famous historical sites in
SyriaSyria and
the most famous castle of the Syrian Assassins

The
AssassinsAssassins were finally linked by the 19th-century orientalist
scholar
Silvestre de SacySilvestre de Sacy to the
ArabicArabic word hashish using their
variant names assassin and assissini in the 19th century. Citing the
example of one of the first written applications of the
ArabicArabic term
hashish to the Ismailis by 13th-century historian Abu Shama, de Sacy
demonstrated its connection to the name given to the Ismailis
throughout Western scholarship.[9] The first known usage of the term
hashishi has been traced back to 1122 when the
FatimidFatimid caliph al-Āmir
employed it in derogatory reference to the Syrian Nizaris.[9] Used
figuratively, the term hashishi connoted meanings such as outcasts or
rabble.[9] Without actually accusing the group of using the hashish
drug, the
CaliphCaliph used the term in a pejorative manner. This label was
quickly adopted by anti-Ismaili historians and applied to the Ismailis
of
SyriaSyria and Persia. The spread of the term was further facilitated
through military encounters between the Nizaris and the Crusaders,
whose chroniclers adopted the term and disseminated it across Europe.
During the medieval period, Western scholarship on the Ismailis
contributed to the popular view of the community as a radical sect of
assassins, believed to be trained for the precise murder of their
adversaries. By the 14th century, European scholarship on the topic
had not advanced much beyond the work and tales from the Crusaders.[9]
The origins of the word forgotten, across Europe the term Assassin had
taken the meaning of "professional murderer".[9] In 1603, the first
Western publication on the topic of the
AssassinsAssassins was authored by a
court official for King
Henry IV of FranceHenry IV of France and was mainly based on the
narratives of
Marco PoloMarco Polo from his visits to the Near East. While he
assembled the accounts of many Western travellers, the author failed
to explain the etymology of the term Assassin.[10]
According to the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, based on texts from
Alamut,
Hassan-i SabbahHassan-i Sabbah tended to call his disciples Asāsīyūn
(أساسيون, meaning "people who are faithful to the foundation
[of the faith]"), and derivation from the term hashish is a
misunderstanding by foreign travelers.[11]
Another modern author, Edward Burman, states that:

Many scholars have argued, and demonstrated convincingly, that the
attribution of the epithet "hashish eaters" or "hashish takers" is a
misnomer derived from enemies of the Isma'ilis and was never used by
Muslim chroniclers or sources. It was therefore used in a pejorative
sense of "enemies" or "disreputable people". This sense of the term
survived into modern times with the common Egyptian usage of the term
Hashasheen in the 1930s to mean simply "noisy or riotous". It is
unlikely that the austere
Hassan-i SabbahHassan-i Sabbah indulged personally in drug
taking ... there is no mention of that drug hashish in connection
with the Persian
AssassinsAssassins – especially in the library of Alamut
("the secret archives").[12]

The name "Assassin" is often said to derive from the
ArabicArabic word
Hashishin or "users of hashish",[13](which can be used as a derogatory
term in
ArabicArabic and it is the equivalent of "drug addict", in this
case, "hashish addict") was originally applied to the
NizariNizari Ismaelis
by the rival
MustaliMustali Ismailis during the fall of the Ismaili Fatimid
Empire and the separation of the two Ismaili streams,[14] there is
little evidence hashish was used to motivate the assassins, contrary
to the beliefs of their medieval enemies.[15] It is possible that the
term hashishiyya or hashishi in
ArabicArabic sources was used metaphorically
in its abusive sense relating to use of hashish, which due to its
effects on the mind state, is outlawed in Islam. Modern versions of
this word include Mahashish used in the same derogatory sense, albeit
less offensive nowadays, as the use of the substance is more
widespread.[citation needed]
Idries Shah, a sufi scholar using Arkon Daraul as a pen name,
described them as 'druggers' that used hashish "in stupefying
candidates for the ephemeral visit to paradise".[16]
Military tactics[edit]

"They call him Shaykh-al-Hashishim. He is their Elder, and upon his
command all of the men of the mountain come out or go in ... they
are believers of the word of their elder and everyone everywhere fears
them, because they even kill kings."

In pursuit of their religious and political goals, the Ismailis
adopted various military strategies popular in the Middle Ages. One
such method was that of assassination, the selective elimination of
prominent rival figures. The murders of political adversaries were
usually carried out in public spaces, creating resounding intimidation
for other possible enemies.[17] Throughout history, many groups have
resorted to assassination as a means of achieving political ends. In
the Ismaili context, these assignments were performed by fida'is
(devotees) of the Ismaili mission. The assassinations were committed
against those whose elimination would most greatly reduce aggression
against the Ismailis and, in particular, against those who had
perpetrated massacres against the community. A single assassination
was usually employed in contrast with the widespread bloodshed which
generally resulted from factional combat. Hashashin are also said to
be adept in furusiyya, or the
IslamicIslamic warrior code, where they are
trained in combat, disguises, and equestrianism.[citation needed]
Codes of conduct are followed, and the hashashin are taught in the art
of war, linguistics, and strategies. Hashashin never allowed their
women to be at their fortresses during military campaigns, both for
protection and secrecy. This is a tradition first made by Hassan when
he sent his wife and daughters to
GirdkuhGirdkuh when a famine was created
during the Seljuk siege of Alamut.[18] For about two centuries, the
hashashin specialized in assassinating their religious and political
enemies.[19]

The first instance of murder in the effort to establish a Nizari
Ismaili state in
PersiaPersia is widely considered to be the killing of
Seljuq vizier, Nizam al-Mulk.[20] Carried out by a man dressed as a
SufiSufi whose identity remains unclear, the vizier's murder in a Seljuq
court is distinctive of exactly the type of visibility for which
missions of the fida'is have been significantly exaggerated.[21] While
the Seljuqs and
CrusadersCrusaders both employed murder as a military means of
disposing of factional enemies, during the
AlamutAlamut period almost any
murder of political significance in the
IslamicIslamic lands was attributed
to the Ismailis.[22] So inflated had this association grown that, in
the work of orientalist scholars such as Bernard Lewis, the Ismailis
were equated with the politically active fida'is and thus were
regarded as a radical and heretical sect known as the Assassins.[23]
The military approach of the
NizariNizari Ismaili state was largely a
defensive one, with strategically chosen sites that appeared to avoid
confrontation wherever possible without the loss of life.[24] But the
defining characteristic of the
NizariNizari Ismaili state was that it was
scattered geographically throughout
PersiaPersia and Syria. The Alamut
castle therefore was only one of a nexus of strongholds throughout the
regions where Ismailis could retreat to safety if necessary. West of
AlamutAlamut in the Shahrud Valley, the major fortress of Lamasar served as
just one example of such a retreat. In the context of their political
uprising, the various spaces of Ismaili military presence took on the
name dar al-hijra (دار الهجرة; land of migration, place of
refuge). The notion of the dar al-hijra originates from the time of
Muhammad, who migrated with his followers from alleged persecution to
a safe haven in Yathrib (Medina).[25] In this way, the Fatimids found
their dar al-hijra in North Africa. From 1101 to 1118, attacks and
sieges were made on the fortresses, conducted by combined forces of
Seljuk, Berkyaruq, and Sanjar. Although with the cost of lives and the
capture and execution of assassin dai Ahmad ibn Hattash, the hashashin
managed to hold their ground and repel the attacks until the Mongol
invasion.[26] Likewise, during the revolt against the Seljuqs, several
fortresses served as spaces of refuge for the Ismailis.
Assassination[edit]
Further information: Assassination, Asymmetrical warfare,
Psychological warfare, and List of assassinations by the Assassins

14th-century painting of the successful assassination of Nizam
al-Mulk, vizier of the Seljuq Empire, by an Assassin. It is often
considered their most significant assassination.

At their peak, many of the assassinations of the day were often
attributed to the hashashin. Even though the
CrusadersCrusaders and the other
factions employed personal assassins, the fact that the hashashin
performed their assassinations in full view of the public, often in
broad daylight, gave them the reputation assigned to them.[27]
Psychological warfare, and attacking the enemy's psyche was another
often employed tactic of the hashashin, who would sometimes attempt to
draw their opponents into submission rather than risk killing them.[1]
During the Seljuk invasion after the death of
MuhammadMuhammad Tapar, a new
Seljuk sultan emerged with the coronation of Tapar's son Sanjar. When
Sanjar rebuffed the hashashin ambassadors who were sent by Hassan for
peace negotiations, Hassan sent his hashashin to the sultan. Sanjar
woke up one morning with a dagger stuck in the ground beside his bed.
Alarmed, he kept the matter a secret. A messenger from Hassan arrived
and stated, "Did I not wish the sultan well that the dagger which was
struck in the hard ground would have been planted on your soft
breast". For the next several decades there ensued a ceasefire between
the Nizaris and the Seljuk. Sanjar himself pensioned the hashashin on
taxes collected from the lands they owned, gave them grants and
licenses, and even allowed them to collect tolls from travelers.[28]
Downfall and aftermath[edit]

The
AssassinsAssassins were eradicated by the
Mongol EmpireMongol Empire during the
well-documented invasion of Khwarizm. They probably dispatched their
assassins to kill Möngke Khan. Thus, a decree was handed over to the
Mongol commander
KitbuqaKitbuqa who began to assault several Hashashin
fortresses in 1253 before Hulagu's advance in 1256. The Mongols
besieged
AlamutAlamut on December 15, 1256. The
AssassinsAssassins recaptured and
held
AlamutAlamut for a few months in 1275, but they were crushed and their
political power was lost forever.[citation needed]
The Syrian branch of the
AssassinsAssassins was taken over by the Mamluk Sultan
BaibarsBaibars in 1273. The Mamluks continued to use the services of the
remaining Assassins: in the 14th century
Ibn BattutaIbn Battuta reported their
fixed rate of pay per murder. In exchange, they were allowed to exist.
Eventually, they resorted to the act of Taqq'iya (dissimulation),
hiding their true identities until their Imams would awaken
them.[citation needed]
According to the historian Yaqut al-Hamawi, the Böszörmény,
(Izmaleita or Ismaili/Nizari) denomination of
MuslimsMuslims who lived in the
Kingdom of HungaryKingdom of Hungary from the 10th to the 13th centuries, were employed
as mercenaries by the kings of Hungary. However, following the
establishment of the Christian Kingdom of Hungary, their community was
vanquished by the end of the 13th century due to the Inquisitions
ordered by the Catholic Church during the reign of Coloman, King of
Hungary. It is said that the
AssassinsAssassins are the ancestors of those
given the surname Hajaly, derived from the word "hajal", a rare
species of bird found in the mountains of
SyriaSyria near Masyaf. The hajal
(bird) was often used as a symbol of the Assassin's order.[citation
needed]
Legends and folklore[edit]
The legends of the
AssassinsAssassins had much to do with the training and
instruction of
NizariNizari fida'is, famed for their public missions during
which they often gave their lives to eliminate adversaries. Historians
have contributed to the tales of fida'is being fed with hashish as
part of their training.[29] Whether fida'is were actually trained or
dispatched by
NizariNizari leaders is unconfirmed, but scholars including
Vladimir Ivanov purport that the assassinations of key figures
including Saljuq vizier
Nizam al-MulkNizam al-Mulk likely provided encouraging
impetus to others in the community who sought to secure the Nizaris
protection from political aggression.[29] Originally, a "local and
popular term" first applied to the Ismailis of Syria, the label was
orally transmitted to Western historians and thus found itself in
their histories of the Nizaris.[25]
The tales of the fida'is' training collected from anti-Ismaili
historians and orientalist writers were compounded and compiled in
Marco Polo's account, in which he described a "secret garden of
paradise".[30] After being drugged, the Ismaili devotees were said to
be taken to a paradise-like garden filled with attractive young
maidens and beautiful plants in which these fida'is would awaken.
Here, they were told by an "old" man that they were witnessing their
place in Paradise and that should they wish to return to this garden
permanently, they must serve the
NizariNizari cause.[25] So went the tale of
the "Old Man in the Mountain", assembled by
Marco PoloMarco Polo and accepted by
Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, an 18th-century Austrian orientalist
writer responsible for much of the spread of this legend. Until the
1930s, von Hammer's retelling of the Assassin legends served as the
standard account of the Nizaris across Europe.[31]
Another one of Hassan's recorded methods includes causing the
hashashin to be vilified by their contemporaries. One story goes that
Hassan al-Sabah set up a trick to make it appear as if he had
decapitated one of his hashashin and the "dead" hashashin's head lay
at the foot of his throne. It was actually one of his men buried up to
his neck covered with blood. He invited his hashashin to speak to it.
He said that he used special powers to allow it to communicate. The
supposed talking head would tell the hashashin about paradise after
death if they gave all their hearts to the cause. After the trick was
played, Hassan had the man killed and his head placed on a stake in
order to cement the deception.[32]
A well-known legend tells how Count Henry of Champagne, returning from
Armenia, spoke with
Grand MasterRashid ad-Din SinanRashid ad-Din Sinan at al-Kahf. The
count claimed to have the most powerful army and at any moment he
claimed he could defeat the Hashshashin, because his army was 10 times
larger. Rashid replied that his army was instead the most powerful,
and to prove it he told one of his men to jump off from the top of the
castle in which they were staying. The man did. Surprised, the count
immediately recognized that Rashid's army was indeed the strongest,
because it did everything at his command, and Rashid further gained
the count's respect.[33]
Modern works on the Nizaris have elucidated their history and, in
doing so, dispelled popular histories from the past as mere legends.
In 1933, under the direction of the
ImamImam Sultan
MuhammadMuhammad Shah, Aga
Khan III, the
IslamicIslamic Research Association was developed. Historian
Vladimir Ivanov was central to both this institution and the 1946
Ismaili Society of Bombay. Cataloguing a number of Ismaili texts,
Ivanov provided the ground for great strides in modern Ismaili
scholarship.[34]
In recent years, Peter Willey has provided interesting evidence that
goes against the Assassin folklore of earlier scholars. Drawing on its
established esoteric doctrine, Willey asserts that the Ismaili
understanding of Paradise is a deeply symbolic one. While the Qur'anic
description of Heaven includes natural imagery, Willey argues that no
NizariNizari fida'i would seriously believe that he was witnessing Paradise
simply by awakening in a beauteous garden.[35] The Nizaris' symbolic
interpretation of the Qur'anic description of Paradise serves as
evidence against the possibility of such an exotic garden used as
motivation for the devotees to carry out their armed missions.
Furthermore, Willey points out that a courtier of Hulagu Khan,
Juvayni, surveyed the
AlamutAlamut castle just before the Mongol invasion.
In his reports about the fortress, there are elaborate descriptions of
sophisticated storage facilities and the famous
AlamutAlamut library.
However, even this anti-Ismaili historian makes no mention of the
gardens on the
AlamutAlamut grounds.[36] Having destroyed a number of texts
in the library's collection, deemed by Juvayni to be heretical, it
would be expected that he would pay significant attention to the
NizariNizari gardens, particularly if they were the site of drug use and
temptation. Having not once mentioned such gardens, Willey concludes
that there is no sound evidence in favour of these legends.
These legends feature in certain works of fiction, including Vladimir
Bartol's 1938 novel Alamut, and Simon Acland's[37] First Crusade
novels The Waste Land and The Flowers of Evil. In the latter, the
author suggests that the origin of the name Assassin is the Turkish
word hashhash meaning opium, partly on the basis that this drug is
more suitable for producing the effects suggested in the legends than
hashish.
Fortresses in Syria[edit]

Map of the crusader states, showing the area controlled by the
AssassinsAssassins around Masyaf, slightly above the center, in white.

During the mid-12th century the
AssassinsAssassins captured or acquired several
fortresses in the Nusayriyah Mountain Range in coastal Syria,
including Masyaf, Rusafa, al-Kahf, al-Qadmus, Khawabi, Sarmin, Quliya,
Ulayqa, Maniqa,
Abu QubaysAbu Qubays and Jabal al-Summaq. For the most part, the
AssassinsAssassins maintained full control over these fortresses until
1270–73 when the Mamluk sultan
BaibarsBaibars annexed them. Most were
dismantled afterwards, while those at
MasyafMasyaf and Ulayqa were later
rebuilt.[38] From then on, the Ismailis maintained limited autonomy
over those former strongholds as loyal subjects of the Mamluks.[39]
In popular culture[edit]
Further information:
AssassinsAssassins in popular culture
The Hashashin were part of
MedievalMedieval culture, and they were either
demonized or romanticized. The Hashashin appeared frequently in the
art and literature of the Middle Ages, sometimes illustrated as one of
the knight's archenemies and as a quintessential villain during the
crusades.[40]
The word Assassin, in variant forms, had already passed into European
usage in this general sense as a term for a hired professional
murderer. The Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani, who died in
1348, tells how the lord of Lucca sent 'his assassins' (i suoi
assassini) to Pisa to kill a troublesome enemy there. Even earlier,
Dante, in a passing reference in the 19th canto of the Inferno, speaks
of 'the treacherous assassin' (lo perfido assassin); his
fourteenth-century commentator Francesco da Buti, explaining a term
which for some readers at the time may still have been strange and
obscure, remarks: 'Assassino è colui che uccide altrui per danari'
(An assassin is one who kills others for money).[41]
The
AssassinsAssassins appear in many role-playing games and video games,
especially in massively multiplayer online games. The assassin
character class is a common feature of many such games, usually
specializing in single combat and stealth skills, often combined in
order to defeat an opponent without exposing the assassin to
counter-attack. The Exile series of action role-playing games revolves
around a time-travelling Syrian Assassin who assassinates various
religious historical figures and modern world leaders.[42][43]
The
Assassin's CreedAssassin's Creed video game series portrays a heavily
fictionalised Ḥashshāshīn order, which has expanded beyond its
Levantine confines and is depicted to have existed throughout recorded
history (along with their nemesis, the Knights Templar).[44] Both
orders are presented as fundamentally philosophical, rather than as
religious, in nature, and are expressly said to predate the faiths
that their real-life counterparts arose from, thus allowing for the
expansion of their respective "histories" both before and after their
factual time-frames. However,
Assassin's CreedAssassin's Creed draws much of its
content from historical facts, and even incorporates as the creed
itself the purported last words from Hassan i Sabbah: "Nothing is
true; everything is permitted" (though the sources for that quote are
largely unreliable). The series has since developed into a franchise,
comprising novels, comic books, and a film.
In the Sword of Islam DLC for Paradox Interactive's grand strategy
game Crusader Kings II, the Hashashin are a holy order associated with
Shi'a Islam. Once established, Shi'ite rulers may hire the Hashashin
to fight against non-Shi'a realms, and can potentially vassalize them.
The Monks and Mystics DLC expands their role, making the
AssassinsAssassins a
unique secret society that Shi'a characters may join.
In the
NetflixNetflix series Marco Polo, the emperor
Kublai KhanKublai Khan is attacked
by a group of assassins, which is said to be the work of the
Hashshashin who are led by the Old Man of the Mountain according to
the Taoist Monk, Hundred Eyes, in the King's court. The Old Man of the
Mountain is then pursued by
Marco PoloMarco Polo and Byamba. The show shows how
the Old Man leads
Marco PoloMarco Polo into a hallucination state.[45]
Louis L'Amour, in his book The Walking Drum, used the assassins and
the stronghold of
AlamutAlamut as the location of his main character's
enslaved father. Mathurin Kerbouchard, who initially seeks for his
father in the 12th century moor-controlled Spain then throughout
Europe, must ultimately travel to the Stronghold of
AlamutAlamut in order to
rescue Jean Kerbouchard.[46]
See also[edit]